UPDATE 1-Greencore to sell UK bottled water unit
* To get up to 17.5 mln pounds from sale
* Completion expected on or before Apr. 30 2010
(Writes through, adds comment, shares)
DUBLIN, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Irish food group Greencore (GNC.I) agreed to sell its loss-making bottled water division to Scotland's Highland Spring Ltd for 17.5 million pounds ($29 million), the two companies said on Thursday.
Greencore said it would use the proceeds of the disposal, which includes a Scottish water facility where it uncovered accounting irregularities last year, to reduce its borrowings.
Under the agreement, Greencore will receive 10 million pounds on completion of the deal, expected by the end of April 2010, followed by 3 million after two years and up to 4.5 million depending on the unit's performance.
Greencore, which describes itself as Britain's biggest sandwich maker, said last year a concealment of costs had been carried out by an executive of its Scottish water facility who had left the business before the matter was uncovered.
The group conducted a review of all its businesses and auditing processes and said that no other issues had been identified in what it said was an isolated incident.
Shares in Greencore were down 1.4 percent at 1.38 euros at 1212 GMT, when the main Irish market index .ISEQ was down 0.8 percent.
"The move will establish the Scottish company as the largest bottled water supplier in the UK," Highland Spring said in a separate statement posted on its website.
Greencore Water made a pretax loss of 3.8 million pounds in the year to Sept. 25 2008. (Reporting by Antonella Ciancio; Editing by Andras Gergely and David Holmes) ($1=.6002 Pound)
